As aftershocks persist, it gets harder to fix the Costa Sur power plant, which produces a quarter of the island’s electricity.

It could take more than a year to fix one of the largest and most damaged power plants in Puerto Rico after the worst earthquake in more than a century killed one person and triggered an islandwide blackout Tuesday.

The Costa Sur plant in the southern town of Guayanilla, located near the epicenter of the 6.4-magnitude quake, could remain offline “perhaps up to one year,” José Ortiz, the head of Puerto Rico’s power authority, said on a local radio show Thursday morning.

With Costa Sur out of service, Puerto Rico would need to rely on its other power plants to operate almost at full capacity in order to meet demand. Ortiz requested temporary generators from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to make up for the need.

The damaged power plant provided about a quarter of the electricity used by homes and businesses in the island.

“Costa Sur is a disaster,” Ortiz said.

“There is structural damage and damage to equipment. Repairs could take months, perhaps up to one year,” he said. “It’s really unsafe to be there right now. It’s life-threatening. Yesterday, when we were inspecting it with the people from FEMA, we had to leave when an aftershock started.”

So far, about half of the U.S. territory has power, according to Ortiz.

Puerto Rico has felt more than 120 aftershocks since the earthquake two days ago, according to the United States Geological Survey. It’s difficult to make repairs as the aftershocks continue, he explained.

The water boilers used to generate electricity at Costa Sur came off their bases after the quake, according to El Nuevo Día, the island’s largest newspaper. The structural damage at the plant includes cracks that prompted oil spills and pieces of metal and concrete that fell off the machines.

“I don’t even have any more tears”
Meanwhile, residents in the southwestern part of Puerto Rico, which saw the worst damage, felt like they were reliving the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which resulted in the deaths of at least 2,975 people and caused the world’s second-longest blackout, which lasted over a year. continue reading>>